A place to sound off about movies, books, and politics, and the culture at large, and let's face it, whatever I feel like.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Random Notes

Just a random day. Bored at work, and figuring it's a good time to post. Maybe too much sugar, so feeling a little next to sane, but not quite there--like if sane was a duplex, it would be living on the bottom floor and I would be on the top because the view's better. Haven't seen many movies, but here's a random sampling of viewings, things to come, etc.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan--haven't seen him before, but he played a heart patient on Grey's Anatomy who the Izzie (blond intern) character had a flirtation with. Mature, ridiculously handsome, but not in the way you normally see. Perhaps because he was ill in the episode. Pic here. More, please.

Junebug---Saw it, loved it, don't miss it. Amy Adams is all that, as is Celia Weston, as usual. Much more compelling than the other recent bring your fiance home movie. This one felt real and lived, and some great performances. Embeth Davidtz plays the analogous role to SJ Parker's in The Family Stone, and she's riveting.

I was listening to NPR and there was something about naming the wrong first Catwoman, and realizing that cat and bat rhyme. This set me off, as you have LOADS OF TIME in your car in LA, and you can't read, like you can in New York. I was thinking of what else rhymed with cat, like fat, drat, spat, etc., and then what rhymed with other superhero names. So how about a superfriends with Fat Girl, WiderMan, and Blunderwoman? Wouldn't that be klutzy fun? Truly, folks, I need some creative outlet.

Okay--crazy frigging dream. The other night, I dreamt that I had a new old house, it was big--almost like a plantation house. I was having people over, and the house kept changing. There was a garden, which was a surprise, as it was behind a large pile of rocks, and not easy to see; it suprised me. Then I walked up the back steps to go into the house. There was a platform, and it fell apart and I fell through though didn't hit the ground. It turns out the house was infested by termites. I went into the house, and went to use the phone, and there were very large termites crawling up the phone nook. They actually had hard hats, and I could tell the male from female. It was like Sesame Street. Then I went into the ballroom, and there were more people, and people out on the driveway. Apparently, I know how to throw a party. But what surprised me most: I looked up termites in dreams on the web and found out they mean a temporary increase in fortune. Since I'm contemplating bankruptcy, that would be nice. It's a little counter-intuitive, though, don't you think. As a homeowner in the dream, I certainly didn't think "Termites! I'm rich!" And these were not small termites. Maybe I'm winning the lottery.

And last but not least, my friend Kara is going to see an installation piece done by a Japanese man who dresses as a beaver in an art gallery and builds a dam. According to the interview, he says something like "In Japan...people will think 'This is a difficult beaver'", which has provided me with the latest title of my autobiography: A Difficult Beaver. Here is a link to the artist and the project. Incredible. His name is Shintaro Miyake. Just going to show that mostly art is just witnessing someone's obsessions. I love the beaver souvenir stand.

2 comments:

Hi Brad! It's Laura, Kara's best woman from her wedding. You know, the one who stood on a chair. Anyway, she told me about your blog, so I've been stalking it. I was having a horrible day earlier in the week, and your post about the Hasidim admiring the Harleys really made me happy. So thanks.

When I was living in the dumpiest efficiency apartment in Northern Virginia (since been demolished -- no surprise), I had this recurring dream in which I would come home and realize that it had a fireplace that I had never noticed before. I'm sure Kara would have a theory about what our dreams mean.

To use some colorful Bostonese, I was totally hosed by the Beaver! The paper said he would be there till 6 p.m., constructing his dam. We got there at 5, the dam was done, and he was gone. Damn it! He is a difficult beaver! The gallery did have, however, a 30 minute film of said beaver building a larger dam in an actual pond in Barre, MA, which is out towards the Berkshires. There he was in his beaver costume and hip waders, because the costume was not waterproof. My favorite part had to be when he took a break to eat at an IHOP and shoved his fork far, far, far into his big ole beaver head. Moments later, a clean fork emerged. While this was going on, the artist was narrating a voice over of the life of an actual beaver, which sounded a bit like this "the beaver is a vegetarian who likes to eat clover." (cue stabbing of pancake). Kara